Technical Field
The present invention relates to control networks, more specifically to control networks leveraging radio frequency communication standards, such as near field communication standards and Bluetooth Low Energy standards, for initiating a conference and controlling conference room presets.
Background Art
In large corporate buildings or similar facilities, there may be hundreds or even thousands of conference rooms of various types. It may become burdensome to find, book, and control a conference room with appropriate availability and resources. Currently, buildings may have dedicated touch panels which provide local access to a scheduling server. For example, outside of a conference room, a TPMC-4SM touch panel available from Crestron Electronics, Inc. of Rockleigh, N.J. may provide local access to a server running scheduling software such as Fusion RV, also available from Crestron Electronics, Inc. However, these dedicated touch panels may be too robust an option for certain conference rooms. Often touch panels require expensive installation and sophisticated processors and users may not desire to install a dedicated access point at each conference or they may not desire to install a dedicated access point with such options at each conference room. Users desire an alternative method for accessing a scheduling server to monitor and control rooms.
In addition to conference rooms, corporate facilities are increasingly presenting hoteling options to their employees. Increasingly employees are working from remote locations, either due to personal preference or job requirements. Corporate facilities may provide work stations in corporate offices to be booked for temporary periods of time by visiting hoteling employees. Hoteling employees may wish to view the status of a workstation or to book a workstation. However, it may be impractical to install touch panels at each of these workstations. Users desire a low cost means for employees to view and manage the schedules of one or more workstations in a facility.
The ever-expanding reach of smart portable devices has recently extended to building automation. Smart phones and tablets are increasingly providing convenient and varied control options for residential and commercial buildings. While the introduction of smart portable devices to home automation has had a noticeable positive impact, existing systems do not fully leverage the capabilities of current generation smart phones and tablets. One such capability is short range communication technologies such as near field communication (NFC) or Bluetooth.
NFC is a set of standards for short-range wireless communication technology that employs magnetic field induction to enable communication between electronic devices in close proximity. The technology allows an NFC-enabled device to communicate with another NFC-enabled device or to retrieve information from an NFC tag. This enables users to perform intuitive, safe, contactless transactions, access digital content and connect electronic devices simply by touching or bringing devices into close proximity.
NFC operates in the standard unlicensed 13.56 MHz frequency band over a range of around 2-4 cm and offers data rates in the range of at least 106 kbits/s to 424 kbit/s. NFC standards cover communication protocols and data exchange formats and are based on existing radio frequency identification (RFID) standards. The standards include ISO/IEC 18092 and those defined by the NFC Forum, a non-profit industry organization which promotes NFC and certifies device compliance. There are two modes of operation covered by the NFC standards: active and passive. In active mode, both communicating devices are capable of transmitting data. Each device alternately generates and deactivates their own electromagnetic field to transmit and receive data. In passive mode, only one device, the initiator devices, generates an electromagnetic field, while the target device, typically an NFC tag, modulates the electromagnetic field to transfer data. The NFC protocol specifies that the initiating device is responsible for generating the electromagnetic field. In this mode, the target device may draw its operating power from the initiator-provided electromagnetic field.
Bluetooth is a set of specifications for common short range wireless applications. They are written, tested & maintained by the Bluetooth SIG. The Bluetooth Low Energy technology was introduced in the Bluetooth Core Specification version 4.0, enabling devices that can operate for months or even years on coin-cell batteries.
Bluetooth Low Energy operates in the same spectrum range (2402-2480 MHz) as the “classic” Bluetooth technology, but uses a different set of channels. Instead of Bluetooth technology's seventy-nine 1 MHz wide channels, Bluetooth Low Energy has forty 2 MHz wide channels. Additionally, Bluetooth Low Energy technology uses a different frequency hopping scheme than prior Bluetooth technology. These improvements make Bluetooth Low Energy ideally suited for discrete data transfer as opposed to streaming as in previous Bluetooth technologies.
There is now a need to fully leverage the short range communication capabilities of smart portable devices, such as smart phones and tablets, to provide more robust conferencing systems.